Abstract
AbstractIn a context of climate change, ecological and physiological adaptations of organisms are of central importance for determining the outcome of niche challenges (e.g., with potential competitors) and species persistence. Typically, long‐term data on free‐ranging populations are needed to investigate such phenomena. Here, long‐term data on a free‐ranging population of western whip snakes (Hierophis viridiflavus: Colubridae) from central Italy were used in order to test the hypothesis that snake feeding frequencies should increase in relation to climate warming, thus positively affecting individual performance because of longer annual activity period, increased daily activity and larger prey base. Data from 231 ‘female snake‐years’ of records (including inter‐annual recaptures) were collected were collected between 1990 and 2014. The frequency of fed snakes varied remarkably across the study period with a significant increase over the years. There was a significant positive effect of the mean annual temperature on the percentage of fed animals, whereas there was a non‐significant relationship between yearly rainfall and percentage of fed animals. There was a positive relationship between mean annual temperature and yearly diversity‐of‐prey index. No other climatic variables were significantly correlated with yearly diversity‐of‐prey index. This study supported the hypothesis that global warming may be favorable for thermophilic species (such as H. viridiflavus), as it enhances their foraging performances and hence their feeding frequencies. The same may not be necessarily true for other species which have colder preferenda (e.g., Zamenis longissimus).
Highlights
In the current climate change context, ecological and physiological adaptations of organisms are of central importance for determining the outcome of niche challenges and the species persistence (e.g., Smit and Wandel 2006; Ujvari et al 2011) and these are likely to be altered by climate change
Some long-term studies on single reptilian populations have been published with emphasis on the ecological consequences of the global warming (e.g., Ujvari et al 2011); some of these studies have focused on Mediterranean snake species (Rugiero et al 2012a, 2013a; Capula et al 2014)
The effects of global warming seem to be potentially detrimental to many animal species worldwide (e.g., Thomas et al 2004), it has been argued that Mediterranean populations of snakes might benefit from the ongoing climate changes (Rugiero et al 2013a; Capula et al 2014)
Summary
In the current climate change context, ecological and physiological adaptations of organisms are of central importance for determining the outcome of niche challenges (e.g., with potential competitors) and the species persistence (e.g., Smit and Wandel 2006; Ujvari et al 2011) and these are likely to be altered by climate change. Global warming can produce shifts in the phenology patterns of snakes and might increase the annual activity time spent above-ground by these animals (Rugiero et al 2013a). This increased time spent above-ground could in turn, for example, translate into having more time to feed and would imply faster growth, increased reproductive output, and even greater population growth (Rugiero et al 2013a). At the same time, increased time spent above-ground may be associated with greater metabolic costs, implying that the species may be limited by access to warm habitats
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